Elon Musk is (he claims) stepping down as CEO of Twitter after users overwhelmingly voted for him to skedaddle. It’s not clear when he’s out — he says whenever he finds some “foolish” enough to take the gig, which isn’t exactly enticing to potential replacements — but on his way out he still has some more unpopular changes. Last week, when he wasn’t briefly suspending journalists who were critical of him, he introduced an instantly hated new rule banning links to rival social media platforms.
But that was nothing. For the holidays, he gave everyone a gift: Now people can see how many views or “impressions” each tweet received. It’s a great way for people to feel worse about a tweet that’s already not gotten many (or any) likes.
Twitter is rolling out View Count, so you can see how many times a tweet has been seen! This is normal for video.
Shows how much more alive Twitter is than it may seem, as over 90% of Twitter users read, but don’t tweet, reply or like, as those are public actions.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 22, 2022
“Twitter is rolling out View Count, so you can see how many times a tweet has been seen!” Musk excitedly (or perhaps sadistically) wrote on Christmas Eve Eve Eve. “This is normal for video. Shows how much more alive Twitter is than it may seem, as over 90% of Twitter users read, but don’t tweet, reply or like, as those are public actions.” He later added, “Meant to say impressions.” (For the record, there was already a way of seeing this intel, but it was hidden under an area one had to click on to see. This puts it right out in the open, for all to see.)
Musk, whose excessively thin skin has become extra apparent over the last month and a half, basically forked over a fortune for a service where masses of people routinely drag him. (At least far right maniacs peddling misinformation adore him — or at least see ways to exploit his neuroses.) As such, it didn’t take long for the reviews to pour in. And they were worse than the ones for the 2019 motion picture Cats.
this "view count" thing is the dumbest feature in twitter history. hey here's the number of people who saw your tweet and completely ignored it. does that make you feel good is that useful to you
— largest rodent (@capybaroness) December 22, 2022
https://twitter.com/fayemikah/status/1606038436749549568
https://twitter.com/eternaIcurse/status/1606043595722706950
The view count feature combined with switching around the likes and RTs for no reason is so confusing looks like absolute shit pic.twitter.com/b1yNTKXjYe
— gaming disorder pawg (@roun_sa_ville) December 22, 2022
For people who aren’t regularly retweeted by larger accounts, the view count will always be smaller (probably much smaller) than their follower count, which arguably makes the platform seem less alive, rather than the opposite. e.g., I have 11k followers and am now demoralized pic.twitter.com/eb995QXy7x
— Damon Beres (@dlberes) December 22, 2022
i do NOT want a view count on my tweets. all it does is tell me that most people who saw my tweet didn’t like it. and they all hate me and think i’m a bitch and i’m ugly.
— katie (@skatie420) December 22, 2022
https://twitter.com/Trungles/status/1606056909835866112
this view count is the worst thing twitter has ever added holy shit this site is so ugly and depressing
— Fraser 🤠 (@JediNabber) December 22, 2022
Some pointed out that seeing “view counts” — especially measured against how few likes let alone re-tweets a post received — was not great for mental health.
Thanks Twitter,
We really needed a VIEW count on our tweets. What a great gift of anxiety and toxicity.
— Jowol | Marionette VTuber (@PorcelainMaid) December 22, 2022
why would he add a view count on tweets. why would you ever do that. i don't need that information
— cait.bsky.social (@punished_cait) December 22, 2022
seeing view count can not possibly be good for ppls mental health
— Kemi Marie (they/them) (@kemimarie) December 22, 2022
There were jokes.
looking at the view count on my tweets.. pic.twitter.com/RjdoBLkw24
— jay (@kendallhosseini) December 22, 2022
watching the view count go up but the likes stay the same pic.twitter.com/kRq5YAoFxD
— matt (@mattxiv) December 22, 2022
https://twitter.com/limitlessjest/status/1606049024821170177
https://twitter.com/dozygay/status/1606038093923946497
the view count on tweets looks so embarrassing i feel like this tweet now pic.twitter.com/NGZD1d9MZ5
— x – léon (@jmkfine) December 22, 2022
https://twitter.com/nemanjaYVR/status/1606064547860602881
now that elon’s added a view count maybe it’ll help him increase the metrics on the number of times he’s seen his children
— i can be your long lost pal (@PallaviGunalan) December 22, 2022
VIEW COUNT ON TWEETS??? pic.twitter.com/evUlGPeiJ8
— wiLL (@willfulchaos) December 22, 2022
But the consensus was that this was yet another blunder from a guy whose erratic antics are killing his most prized company.
https://twitter.com/JUNlPER/status/1606055182797635584